I love this guy! I've been introduced to so many fruit through his channel. There are some fruit that I'll see in store but feel too scared to try / at that price, but that I've come home, watched...
I love this guy! I've been introduced to so many fruit through his channel. There are some fruit that I'll see in store but feel too scared to try / at that price, but that I've come home, watched a video and thought okay yes! Another reason why I love his channel is to love vicariously through his visits to south east Asia, eating fruit I used to have access to but not anymore.
I've never seen this one but if or when I do I would love to try it too
Yeah, I'm a big fan of Weird Explorer too. And I also had no idea there were sooooo many varieties/cultivars of fruit until I stumbled upon his channel a few years ago. One day I hope to get to try some of the more interesting ones I have seen on his channel, but for now I have to make do with whatever exotic fruit I can actually find here in Canada, and also living vicariously through his videos. :P
Major cities in Canada, especially small ethnic markets will often have rare fruit now :) there's even lychee from South Africa once a year.... I used to live near (one day's travel to) a lychee...
Major cities in Canada, especially small ethnic markets will often have rare fruit now :) there's even lychee from South Africa once a year.... I used to live near (one day's travel to) a lychee orchard so that's the one I miss the most.
His video on durian includes some special cultivars air shipped.....but they're SO EXPENSIVE. I did find a frozen pack at the local superstore and it was "okay".
What's your favorite common and exotic fruit? What's on your fruit bucket list?
Yeah, I actually have already tried a decent amount of "exotic" fruits and vegetables (by Canadian standards) over the years, either in my travels, or by shopping at various...
Yeah, I actually have already tried a decent amount of "exotic" fruits and vegetables (by Canadian standards) over the years, either in my travels, or by shopping at various Chinese/Korean/Carribean/etc markets in the Toronto area, and also in Miami when I lived there. And I have even ordered some stuff online now too, ever since I started watching the channel and getting more interested in the subject. But to answer your questions, from another comment of mine answering a similar question:
And as for the fruit I am most interested in trying, even before discovering the channel I had already had a bunch of pretty "exotic" fruits (by Canadian standards anyways) in my travels, like Papaya, Guava, Passion Fruit, Dragonfruit, Rambutan, Kiwi, Lychee, Tamarind, Persimmon, Kumquat, and Starfruit. But since discovering his channel I've also now ticked a few others off my wishlist too, like jackfruit, breadfruit, and durian... Although they were canned/frozen/dried versions, so trying them fresh is still a goal for me. But TBH, most of the truly weird fruits he's had that most people have never even heard of are not what I am most interested in. Don't get me wrong, I'd still love to try them all, but it's actually all the varieties of mangoes he's eaten that I am the most jealous of, since mango is by far my favorite fruit. So I would love love love to be able to try all those eventually. And I've also only ever had Cavendish bananas (and plantains), so being able to try some of the different varieties he's had would be awesome too. Ditto for all the avocados. But I also really want to try some of the interesting beans he's eaten as well, like the stink or "ice cream" beans.
What about you, what fruit do you most want to try?
p.s. Lychee and rambutan are amongst my favorites as far as the more exotic fruit goes. I love mildly sweet, floral, aromatic stuff like that... and dragonfruit as well, which is similar but with a slight cucumbery taste too. But they're all really hard to get hold of where I'm living now, which is a more rural area an hour+ outside the GTA, without access to any good ethnic markets. :(
I haven't tried that one :) I hope I get to try it What's it taste like and why do you think they stop bringing them about 10 years ago? I wonder if one could talk to smaller independent fruit...
I haven't tried that one :) I hope I get to try it
What's it taste like and why do you think they stop bringing them about 10 years ago?
I wonder if one could talk to smaller independent fruit vendors and ask them to bring stuff in....the way that one could ask independent book stores to order a book
An hour outside of GTA..... Try T&T next time you're in town for potentially fresh durian and other surprises. I also want to try all the different kinds of mangoes. What a miracle that our planet...
An hour outside of GTA..... Try T&T next time you're in town for potentially fresh durian and other surprises.
I also want to try all the different kinds of mangoes. What a miracle that our planet sustains so much variety, and what a wonder that fellow humans work hard to create so many hybrids!
And breadfruit. I read a Chinese novel when I was young, titled "The Woman Who Lives Atop A Breadfruit Tree" and heard about it, but still haven't had any all this time.
A third is more of a "reunion" with WamPee or Wong Pei - I remember sitting down and eating an entire bag of this stuff. I love sour fruit and this one can be really refreshingly sour with no tannin feel like grape peel. Within the same bag there are some individuals that slow gradient into delightfully sweet. Don't even peel just squeeze one until the main jelly portion pops into your mouth, then squeeze the rest of the leathery pouch to get all the remaining slightly less sour juices before discarding. Like miniature jelly pouch snacks. It's been very many years :(
Ah, thanks for the recommendation. I knew about T&T and have heard good things about it, but I haven't actually been to one yet. I didn't realize they had imported fruit and such there though. So...
Ah, thanks for the recommendation. I knew about T&T and have heard good things about it, but I haven't actually been to one yet. I didn't realize they had imported fruit and such there though. So now I'm definitely going to have to try to make a trip to the one in Mississauga next time I'm in the area!
I used to go to the Mississauga Chinese Centre a lot when I was young, since I spent most of my tween/teen years living nearby in Lorne Park. And I regularly started going there again when I moved back to Miss after living in Florida too. It has/had a lot of awesome shops there with imported foodstuffs that I would frequently buy stuff from.
I moved away from Miss about 10 years ago though, and when I last went to the Center I was genuinely heartbroken when I discovered that Blue Lagoon, the giant banquet hall restaurant there shut down a few years ago. I used to go there all the damn time for their all-you-can-eat dim sum. So often, in fact, that a lot of the servings ladies recognized me and my buddy who I went there with. And every year for my birthday starting from when I was a kid, I would go get Peking duck from there too. I still keep up the tradition of getting Peking duck for my birthday every year, but now we get it from Cynthia's in Oakville instead. It's good, but just not the same. I miss that nostalgic banquet hall experience. :(
Never had a Wampee before but those look interesting! Kinda look like a kumquat (which I love), but the interior is definitely way different. If I ever see any in a store/market, I'll be sure to buy some and give them a try! :)
p.s. Dam Foods in Ajax is where I first tried roast bread fruit. IIRC they have a few other locations around the GTA and surrounds though. So if you're ever in the area, be sure to go there and give it a try!
T&T will sneakily try to sell you expired or past prime fruit. Never get a quantity / amount of money you can't lose, maybe even buy a small bit and go back if it's very fresh, and never trust...
T&T will sneakily try to sell you expired or past prime fruit. Never get a quantity / amount of money you can't lose, maybe even buy a small bit and go back if it's very fresh, and never trust them to buy a pre packed fruit basket.
Last month I had the freshest mangosteen from there and it was indeed glorious. Family went back a few days later and the fruit had yellow spots inside = bad. (Mangosteen you need to buy ones where the little cute leaves are still green.)
I've never had (or even seen in RL) a magosteen before, but I remember seeing a couple Weird Explorer's videos on them over the years. I would definitely buy one of those if I saw one though, so...
I've never had (or even seen in RL) a magosteen before, but I remember seeing a couple Weird Explorer's videos on them over the years. I would definitely buy one of those if I saw one though, so thanks for the warning about them (and all the fruit at T&T) potentially being overripe. I don't live close enough to a T&T to return to the store to buy more of the same batch after making sure a fruit isn't overripe, so I would probably just have to roll the dice a little bit and hope for the best. :P
Eat it in the parking lot and then depending on how fresh they are and how much you like them, run back in and buy as many as you can eat in one day. You and I both live quite far away from fresh...
Eat it in the parking lot and then depending on how fresh they are and how much you like them, run back in and buy as many as you can eat in one day. You and I both live quite far away from fresh exotic fruit, no shame in being excited when it's available.
(Last month when I was at a T&T I saw some folks in the parking lot opening a durian and sharing out of the trunk of their SUV. All I felt was respect and mild envy for those bosses.)
We call durian the King of Fruits and mangosteen is the Queen. maybe because of its delicate nature and seasonal rarity? Cut a ring just past the leather rind around the mangosteen and then the inside red rips open easily. Open it up without bruising the whites, basically the goal is to get it to look like this https://ibb.co/F6YGmzH
Yeah if the inside is translucent and or yellow it's past prime, unfortunately. Suck on the non yellow translucent bits for a bit of juice and try again next time.
One time in Thailand they had mangosteens at an all you can eat fruit buffet. They stopped serving after a short half hour, whereas they had four types of durian all day plus any number of in season fancy fruit. Kinda goes to show the rarity I guess..... It's probably one of the only fruit I never had " my fill " of in one sitting, ever. Even lychee I've eaten till I lost my voice 😂
Yeah, it's a shame we're so far away from tropical weather where all that stuff is grown, so we don't usually have access to that kinda produce up here. And if it's already rare in the tropics...
Yeah, it's a shame we're so far away from tropical weather where all that stuff is grown, so we don't usually have access to that kinda produce up here. And if it's already rare in the tropics then it's pretty unlikely we will get good quality samples here, or if we do it'll be super infrequent (or exceedingly expensive). :(
I would have absolutely no shame about chowing down on some exotic fruit in the parking lot though. So I will probably do that if/when I visit a T&T. Good advice, thanks! :P
I love this guy! I've been introduced to so many fruit through his channel. There are some fruit that I'll see in store but feel too scared to try / at that price, but that I've come home, watched a video and thought okay yes! Another reason why I love his channel is to love vicariously through his visits to south east Asia, eating fruit I used to have access to but not anymore.
I've never seen this one but if or when I do I would love to try it too
Heh, I've said much the same about him too.
Major cities in Canada, especially small ethnic markets will often have rare fruit now :) there's even lychee from South Africa once a year.... I used to live near (one day's travel to) a lychee orchard so that's the one I miss the most.
His video on durian includes some special cultivars air shipped.....but they're SO EXPENSIVE. I did find a frozen pack at the local superstore and it was "okay".
What's your favorite common and exotic fruit? What's on your fruit bucket list?
Yeah, I actually have already tried a decent amount of "exotic" fruits and vegetables (by Canadian standards) over the years, either in my travels, or by shopping at various Chinese/Korean/Carribean/etc markets in the Toronto area, and also in Miami when I lived there. And I have even ordered some stuff online now too, ever since I started watching the channel and getting more interested in the subject. But to answer your questions, from another comment of mine answering a similar question:
What about you, what fruit do you most want to try?
p.s. Lychee and rambutan are amongst my favorites as far as the more exotic fruit goes. I love mildly sweet, floral, aromatic stuff like that... and dragonfruit as well, which is similar but with a slight cucumbery taste too. But they're all really hard to get hold of where I'm living now, which is a more rural area an hour+ outside the GTA, without access to any good ethnic markets. :(
I haven't tried that one :) I hope I get to try it
What's it taste like and why do you think they stop bringing them about 10 years ago?
I wonder if one could talk to smaller independent fruit vendors and ask them to bring stuff in....the way that one could ask independent book stores to order a book
I love love love tangerines! It looks kinda ugly outside, like a Yuzu? I'll be on the lookout for one when I'm in a big city next time :D
An hour outside of GTA..... Try T&T next time you're in town for potentially fresh durian and other surprises.
I also want to try all the different kinds of mangoes. What a miracle that our planet sustains so much variety, and what a wonder that fellow humans work hard to create so many hybrids!
And breadfruit. I read a Chinese novel when I was young, titled "The Woman Who Lives Atop A Breadfruit Tree" and heard about it, but still haven't had any all this time.
A third is more of a "reunion" with WamPee or Wong Pei - I remember sitting down and eating an entire bag of this stuff. I love sour fruit and this one can be really refreshingly sour with no tannin feel like grape peel. Within the same bag there are some individuals that slow gradient into delightfully sweet. Don't even peel just squeeze one until the main jelly portion pops into your mouth, then squeeze the rest of the leathery pouch to get all the remaining slightly less sour juices before discarding. Like miniature jelly pouch snacks. It's been very many years :(
Ah, thanks for the recommendation. I knew about T&T and have heard good things about it, but I haven't actually been to one yet. I didn't realize they had imported fruit and such there though. So now I'm definitely going to have to try to make a trip to the one in Mississauga next time I'm in the area!
I used to go to the Mississauga Chinese Centre a lot when I was young, since I spent most of my tween/teen years living nearby in Lorne Park. And I regularly started going there again when I moved back to Miss after living in Florida too. It has/had a lot of awesome shops there with imported foodstuffs that I would frequently buy stuff from.
I moved away from Miss about 10 years ago though, and when I last went to the Center I was genuinely heartbroken when I discovered that Blue Lagoon, the giant banquet hall restaurant there shut down a few years ago. I used to go there all the damn time for their all-you-can-eat dim sum. So often, in fact, that a lot of the servings ladies recognized me and my buddy who I went there with. And every year for my birthday starting from when I was a kid, I would go get Peking duck from there too. I still keep up the tradition of getting Peking duck for my birthday every year, but now we get it from Cynthia's in Oakville instead. It's good, but just not the same. I miss that nostalgic banquet hall experience. :(
Never had a Wampee before but those look interesting! Kinda look like a kumquat (which I love), but the interior is definitely way different. If I ever see any in a store/market, I'll be sure to buy some and give them a try! :)
p.s. Dam Foods in Ajax is where I first tried roast bread fruit. IIRC they have a few other locations around the GTA and surrounds though. So if you're ever in the area, be sure to go there and give it a try!
T&T will sneakily try to sell you expired or past prime fruit. Never get a quantity / amount of money you can't lose, maybe even buy a small bit and go back if it's very fresh, and never trust them to buy a pre packed fruit basket.
Last month I had the freshest mangosteen from there and it was indeed glorious. Family went back a few days later and the fruit had yellow spots inside = bad. (Mangosteen you need to buy ones where the little cute leaves are still green.)
I've never had (or even seen in RL) a magosteen before, but I remember seeing a couple Weird Explorer's videos on them over the years. I would definitely buy one of those if I saw one though, so thanks for the warning about them (and all the fruit at T&T) potentially being overripe. I don't live close enough to a T&T to return to the store to buy more of the same batch after making sure a fruit isn't overripe, so I would probably just have to roll the dice a little bit and hope for the best. :P
Eat it in the parking lot and then depending on how fresh they are and how much you like them, run back in and buy as many as you can eat in one day. You and I both live quite far away from fresh exotic fruit, no shame in being excited when it's available.
(Last month when I was at a T&T I saw some folks in the parking lot opening a durian and sharing out of the trunk of their SUV. All I felt was respect and mild envy for those bosses.)
We call durian the King of Fruits and mangosteen is the Queen. maybe because of its delicate nature and seasonal rarity? Cut a ring just past the leather rind around the mangosteen and then the inside red rips open easily. Open it up without bruising the whites, basically the goal is to get it to look like this
https://ibb.co/F6YGmzH
Yeah if the inside is translucent and or yellow it's past prime, unfortunately. Suck on the non yellow translucent bits for a bit of juice and try again next time.
One time in Thailand they had mangosteens at an all you can eat fruit buffet. They stopped serving after a short half hour, whereas they had four types of durian all day plus any number of in season fancy fruit. Kinda goes to show the rarity I guess..... It's probably one of the only fruit I never had " my fill " of in one sitting, ever. Even lychee I've eaten till I lost my voice 😂
Yeah, it's a shame we're so far away from tropical weather where all that stuff is grown, so we don't usually have access to that kinda produce up here. And if it's already rare in the tropics then it's pretty unlikely we will get good quality samples here, or if we do it'll be super infrequent (or exceedingly expensive). :(
I would have absolutely no shame about chowing down on some exotic fruit in the parking lot though. So I will probably do that if/when I visit a T&T. Good advice, thanks! :P